1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the telecommunications field, and more specifically, to a method and apparatus for identifying a type of phone call.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditionally, the telephone has facilitated communication with friends and family. However, many received calls are from organizations seeking to sell products or to collect donations. As a result, there is a great demand for subscriber features which enable consumers to curtail the ability of outside organizations to invade their privacy at home. Exemplary and commonly known subscriber features of this type include Caller ID, Anonymous Call Rejection, Specified Call Blocking and Do Not Disturb. In general, each of these features either provides information to the called party about an incoming call or operates to reject a call for a specified reason.
A problem with the Caller ID subscriber feature is that a called party must inspect a Caller ID display to determine whether to take the call based upon the information displayed on the screen. Unfortunately, the displayed information is frequently inadequate for determining whether a call should be accepted. As an alternative, a person may choose to block all calls. A problem with blocking all calls by activating the Do Not Disturb feature, however, is that even urgent calls are blocked and are not routed to the called party. What is needed, therefore, is more information so that a called party may determine whether to take a call. Additionally, a system is needed in which an urgent call can be routed to a called party even if a Do Not Disturb feature has been activated for the called party phone. What is also needed is a system and method that enables a person to determine whether to accept an incoming call without having to view a display.